Baylor 70, Arizona St. 66

Dec 21, 2009 - 5:16 AM
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Brittney Griner is proving she's one of the
best players in the country and she's only a freshman.

Griner had 27 points, 10 rebounds, and eight blocks to help
sixth-ranked Baylor hold off No. 14 Arizona State 70-66 on
Sunday night in the Las Vegas Hoops Classic. It was the second
straight game that Griner fell just two blocks short of a
triple-double. She had the first in school history early in the
week in a win over Oral Roberts.

"She's amazing," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "In all my years
at Baylor I haven't seen anyone with games statistically like
she's had the past week."

Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne was equally impressed
by the 6-foot-8 phenom.

"You already have to put her in the company of some of the other
greats like Candace Parker and Maya Moore," Turner Thorne said.
"She's come so far from high school so quickly."

Griner took over in the second half, scoring 18 of her points
and blocking six shots. Her three-point play with 4:47 left gave
Baylor (11-1) a five-point lead. The Sun Devils could get no
closer than four the rest of the way.

"We didn't go a good enough job getting her the ball in the
first half," Mulkey said. "She's so patient and we were able to
get her going in the second half."

Kelli Griffin added 15 points for the Bears, who have 11
straight games since a season-opening loss to Tennessee.

"I was really pumped up coming to Las Vegas," Griner said. "It
was really important to go into Christmas break with a win."

Becca Tobin scored 16 points and Danielle Orsillo added 14 for
Arizona State (7-3), which also lost to No. 13 Texas A&M on
Saturday.

"We played a couple of top teams," Tobin said. "We moved a few
steps forward because of that. Now we need to go home and
practice and work on the things we need to do."

With the game tied at 60 with 5:43 left, Medlock hit a layup and
Griner had the three-point play. Arizona State, which had made
13 of its first 14 free throws, had chances to close the gap,
but the Sun Devils started to miss from the line, failing to
convert on six of their next eight.

Griffin's layup extended the advantage to 67-61 with 3:10 left.
Tobin hit two free throws to make it a four-point game. On the
Sun Devils next two possessions they had a shot clock violation
and Orsillo missed a deep 3-pointer with 1:01 left.

"We played well for a while, but just came up a little short in
the end," Turner Thorne said.

Griner's layup with 44.7 left sealed the game.

It was a game of runs as Baylor jumped out to an early 32-20
with 3:01 left in the first half, Arizona State went on a 20-5
spurt spanning the break to take a 40-37 advantage on Fulcher's
jumper. Griner and Baylor responded scoring the next nine
points. Griner had four of them, including a nifty layup after
blocking a shot on the other end to give the Bears a 46-40
advantage.

Arizona State then had the next spurt scoring seven straight to
take a 47-46 lead with 11:45 left. The teams traded baskets and
leads over the next 6 minutes as Griner scored nine points on an
array of post moves. Neither team could build more than a
two-point lead before Tenaya Watson's jumper tied the game at
60.

Arizona State lost its opening game in the tournament Saturday
night, falling to No. 13 Texas A&M 72-62. Baylor routed Gonzaga
70-49.